HD Heads-Up: January 4

➢ Three will team Modern Familywith new comedy 9JKL from January 18. The latter concerns a divorced out-of-work actor living in the same apartment building as his parents and successful surgeon brother. Despite poor US ratings and reviews — the kindest verdict was the Los Angeles Times’: “isn’t breaking any comedic boundaries, but it does entertain” — CBS extended 9JKL’s initial order from 13 episodes to 16. It will air opposite another old-school sitcom, Prime’s Superior Donuts …

➢ Three will capitalise on TVNZ 1’s revamping of Seven Sharp to relaunch The Project while its more established rival remains off-air. The Project will screen from January 15, the same night TVNZ 2 resumes Shortland Street(with an hour-long season premiere) and Prime, The Crowd Goes Wild. This is also when Three will bring back breakfast show The AM Show and use re-runs of Modern Family (from season one) as the new lead-in to Newshub Live at 6pm…

➢ Returning for new episodes that week are The Originals(TVNZ 2,12.35am Thursdays), The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00 Fridays) and Live at the Apollo(Three, 9.00 Fridays). Norton will resume with guests Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Gwendoline Christie and singer Sam Smith while Apollo’s 13th season will open with rising comedy star Larry Dean and one-liner maestro Gary Delaney …

➢ Also premiering that week are Instant Hotel (TVNZ 2, 8.45 Tuesday), in which 10 teams of householders compete to offer the best holiday accommodation, and the long-running American Pickers (Prime, 7.30 Monday), which scours the US for antiques and collectibles, while ending their runs are The Night Shift, Scandaland Bromans…

➢ Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan gets up close and perilous with a pack of polar bears in Polar Bear Family and Me (Three, 5.00 Sundays from January 14) while Animal Super Parents (Prime, 7.30 Sundays from January 14) “reveals the weird and wonderful stories of some of the natural world’s incredible single parents” …